Priest-in-Charge THE OFFCHURCH GROUP St Gregory, Offchurch St Margaret, Hunningham St John the Baptist, Wappenbury with Eathorpe St Michael, Weston-under-Wetherley (This post can be configured flexibly as 0.5 Stipendiary, Self-supporting or House for Duty) PARISH PROFILE 1 BISHOP’S INTRODUCTION We’ve recently conducted a Diocesan-wide consultation on rural ministry here in the Diocese of Coventry and I am really encouraged by the number of our rural benefices picking up the challenge to adapt and change for more effective ministry and mission in the 21st century. The Offchurch Group has shown particular imagination and tenacity in this process, and their creative, forward looking approach to ministry in their context is very impressive. Indeed, the parishes have led the way in responding creatively to some of the challenges of rural ministry and in tooling up for more effective mission. They have merged together to form a single PCC, set up a ‘Friends of . ’ in every village to help look after the buildings, and devised a workable service structure. In many ways they are a model for others to follow, not only in what they have achieved in this but in the way they have done it – in a friendly manner with minimum fuss! The Group has some excellent disciples of Jesus Christ who contribute effectively in their parishes and have really developed during the interregnum. The Group is also blessed with the presence of Bishop John, Bishop of Warwick, who lives in the village of Offchurch and is ready to provide occasional liturgical support and, of course, ongoing encouragement. The Group lies in a beautiful part of rural Warwickshire, with Royal Leamington Spa in close proximity, and Coventry and other towns in easy travelling distance. The post can be configured flexibly as 0.5 stipendiary, self-supporting or House for Duty, and I warmly commend it to you. With my prayers 2 DEANERY SUMMARY The Southam deanery is the smallest deanery in the Coventry diocese, currently made up of 18 parishes within a six mile radius of the market town of Southam. Recent structural discussions for our Deanery Plan have resulted in the creating of the new Offchurch Group which combines four of our small rural parishes into one single entity. As a deanery we have a strong focus on mission and collaborative ministry. We have a deanery mission team that organizes evangelistic events under the national Hope banner, that provide high quality occasions we can be confident in inviting non-Christian friends to. We have a deanery prayer meeting in the heart of the deanery, Kingdom Come, where people gather from across the deanery, though in small numbers, to pray for the work of God in our parishes and our deanery focus. There are also a number of deanery Christian exploration and nurture courses that continue to be run, which include Just Looking, Alpha, Discipleship Explored, Lost for Words, and currently Table Talk. We have also streamed lectures from the School of Theology based at St Mellitus College in London, which have been both well-received and stretching! We use one of our local pubs for many of these courses. With only a small number of clergy in the deanery, we try to work together, especially with mission and training, and new clergy appointments to the deanery would be encouraged to add their gifts to this creative mix. As a clergy team, we would not be able to function without strong lay teams around us, and we are looking for ways to develop and strengthen these teams both within individual parishes and deanery-wide. As you will read in the parish profile that follows, plans for HS2 will have a significant effect on the deanery as a whole, as we lie directly in the path of the planned route. We are also experiencing huge changes with new housing developments in a number of villages and Southam town itself, so working together and supporting each other, as well as developing new leaders and exciting new ideas for growth will become even more important. As a deanery, we have often come up with forward-thinking plans, as the plans for the new Offchurch Group show, and so it's a creative and stimulating deanery to be a part of. Rev’d Martin Green Area Dean, Southam Deanery 3 BACKGROUND TO POST The Offchurch Group is a newly formed group created from a merger of the parishes of Hunningham, Offchurch, Wappenbury with Eathorpe, and Weston- under-Wetherley in 2016. These lie in a rural area but very close to the nearby and popular town of Royal Leamington Spa. The parishes were, until the retirement of the previous incumbent, part of a group of six parishes, along with Long Itchington and Marton which formed ‘the Feldon Group’. It was felt however that the combination of mission effectiveness and attractiveness of the post to clergy would be better served if the benefice was actually divided into two distinct parts, where clergy could devote more time to specific areas for growth. Although a radical step, each of the church congregations in the newly formed Offchurch Group fully supported this change, seeing it as an opportunity to pool resources and to support each other. The Diocese has fully supported us in taking this approach, which is becoming a model for other rural areas to consider. We are, therefore, in the process of forming one PCC, and moving to one main place of worship (St Gregory’s), in which services will take place every week except on 5th Sundays when a joint service will be held in one of the other churches in the Group. The other churches will become Chapels of Ease, with services held less frequently (once or twice a month), and predominantly lay-led. ‘Friends of…’ have been established in each village to help maintain the buildings. We have one Treasurer but each church will need to identifier a person to link with the Treasurer to undertake tasks such as recording and banking income and possibly for making payments eg for grass cutting.. The Group benefits from the occasional services of the Bishop of Warwick who lives in the village of Offchurch. We therefore believe that this post is not only do-able but actually an attractive post for some-one seeking to minister in a rural context but with only one PCC and usually no more than one Sunday service to lead a week. 4 ROLE SPECIFICATION The role of this post is to lead the churches in fulfilling the Diocesan Mission Purpose of: Worshipping God Making New Disciples Transforming Communities. This will be achieved by developing 8 essential qualities in the life of the church: Empowering Leadership Gift-oriented Ministry Passionate Spirituality Inspiring Worship Holistic Small Groups Need-oriented Outreach Loving Relationships Functional Structures PERSON SPECIFICATION We welcome applications from candidates who: Have a deep love of Jesus Christ alongside a desire to share that love in our 4 small rural villages, by being able to create and maintain positive relationships with people of all ages, and help lead them into experiencing more of God’s love. Are empowering leaders, who can identify, train and equip more people for serving God in leadership roles and in using the gifts and skills God gives people, building on the positive foundation we already have in this area. Will encourage us in our faith, making us more confident in sharing our faith with one another and those in our communities. Has a track record in helping worship be inspiring and attractive for a younger age range. 5 THE OFFCHURCH GROUP AND THE 8 ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF HEALTHY CHURCHES Summary Across the four churches the interregnum has brought to the fore those who have stepped out of their comfort zone to lead services and take on other roles and there has been noticeable growth in faith and confidence. Necessity has been the driving force behind this rather than any structured approach and we recognise the need for a more organised method for identifying and training potential leaders. Currently lay members are responsible for all aspects of church life and we would anticipate a new incumbent having a larger pool of experience to draw on than existed when the previous vicar retired. After a lengthy period of interregnum there is possibly a sense that we are using all the passions and gifts of which we are aware simply to stay afloat. However, it has been clear across the four churches that there have been some exceptions to this. We have had services to commemorate the centenary of the start of WW1, and to celebrate the life and music of Charles Wesley and to mark the Queen’s birthday. In other services gifts have been identified and shared in areas such as poetry, music, speaking and leading worship. The weekly services have also seen people speak and lead for the first time. Again the driving force has been necessity but it would have been all too easy to let things slip during this time, reduce the number of services, or rely entirely on visiting preachers. The congregations all seem to value the relationships and fellowship they experience both within their own churches and when we come together as a group. This is obvious from the survey results in each of the churches. As we have worked through the process of merging the four parishes the spirit of cooperation has been a real joy. There is much still to resolve but at each stage to date folk have looked for solutions to problems and have been prepared to change the way things work to accommodate the new structure.